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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Mock Strawberry Fruit - Linda C. Miller

Mock Strawberry Fruit

Potentilla indica

Watercolor 5 x 7 inches on HP Paper

After searching for a yellow flowered wild strawberry, I learned that I had actually painted a Mock Strawberry or "Gurbir", Potentilla indica fruit. It is also called Indian strawberry (I remember this name from my childhood in Michigan) or false strawberry.

Although the foliage and fruit are quite similar, it is not a true strawberry and can readily be distinguished by its yellow flowers, as opposed to the flowers of true strawberries which are white or slightly pink.

The leaves are trifoliate, roughly veined beneath, dark green, and arising from short crowns. The plant spreads along creeping stolons, rooting and producing crowns at each node.

The yellow flowers are produced in mid spring, then sporadically throughout the growing season. The fruits are white or red, and entirely coverered with red seeds. They are edible, though unpleasant to eat, as they have no taste.

It is native to Asia, and it has been naturalized in many regions of the United States. Some consider it a weed!

One of the sites I visited suggested that the Mock Strawberry makes an ideal “miniature” container plant, especially if grown in a perched container on top of a pedestal or hanging basket with the stolons cascading over the sides of the container. What a great idea .....for they are always find a way into my garden beds!

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